Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

'Thoughts'

Parseltongue


(Dorm)

Harry was wary of entering the dorm. He knew that Ron went to bed early. He was sick of Ron snapping at him and Harry knew that if the redhead woke and saw him, he would snap at Harry. The green eyed wizard knew he would snap back.

To his surprise Ron's bed was empty. He knew Ron had said he was going to bed early. He had told Harry that much. He told Harry that dealing with him was tiring and he was exhausted. He was very confused.

"Something wrong Harry?" Seamus asked.

The green eyed boy looked over at him. The Irish wizard was sitting on his bed. Books and papers were scattered around him. Harry figured he had been doing homework.

"No. Ron told me he was going to bed since I was tiring." He answered.

"Haven't seen him." He scowled.

He shrugged. "That's okay. At least I won't get snapped at."

"True." His scowl deepened. 'Can't believe he didn't get into trouble for that.'

"Anyways I was looking for you."

"Really? Why?" The brunette asked in surprise.

"To talk. After what happened in Herbology I had questions. He informed me what Ron and Hermione were pulling. I'm sorry for not seeing it." He bit his lip and looked down at the floor.

Seamus got off his bed and walked over to him. He hugged Harry, much to his surprise. A few seconds later he hugged back.

"No one, especially not me, blamed you. You know now and I know you won't let it continue. That's what matters." He assured him.

"If you say so."

"I do." He said firmly.

"Okay." He released Seamus. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He grinned.

"What?" Harry asked.

"Just happy that I actually get to spend time with you." He said.

"Oh." He blushed. "Me too."

"Good. Do you have any homework left to do?" He asked.

"Yeah. Potions, Charms, and Astrology." He answered.

"Come on. Let's work on it together." He offered.

"Okay." Harry grabbed his work and sat down next to Seamus on his bed.

The two worked on their homework for another hour. Afterwards they brushed their teeth and went to bed. At midnight Ron entered the room and ended up waking all of them up. When he finally crawled into his bed the others were able to go back asleep. None of them were pleased that they had been woken up.


(Next Morning)

Almost everyone woke the next morning to their alarms. Ron rolled over and placed his pillow over his head to block out the noise. The others rolled out of bed and prepared for the day. Harry took a shower and got dressed. When he returned he saw Ron was still sleeping and contemplated waking him.

He decided against it. He shouldn't have gone to bed so late on a school night and he shouldn't rely on others all the time. He needed to learn responsibility.

Harry left with the others. He sat down between Seamus and Dean. Neville sat down across from Harry. They ate their breakfast in peace until Hermione showed up. She scowled when she saw the seating arrangements. She sat down next to Neville.

"Where's Ron?" She demanded.

"Still sleeping." Unhappy how she was treating him and the others.

"Why didn't you wake him?" She was shocked.

"He needs to learn responsibility and I'm not his alarm. It's not my fault he went to bed after midnight." Harry told her.

"Just because you argued yesterday doesn't mean that you can act childish and let Ron get into trouble for being late." She scolded him.

"For two people to argue there needs to be two people arguing. He snapped at me and I didn't say anything. I'm not acting childish. I'm not always going to be sleeping in the same room as him. He needs to learn to go to bed at a decent time and to set an alarm." He told her.

'Wow.' The boys were stunned to hear him standing up for himself and not back down.

Hermione was stunned. Usually he would agree with her. She couldn't believe he actually talked back to her. He didn't give her a chance to speak as he stood up and walked away. The boys did the same.

Once they were out of the Great Hall Dean wrapped an arm around Harry's shoulders. "Good job Harry."

"Thanks. After I talked to both Dean and Seamus I thought about how they treated others and how they treated me. If they aren't going to treat me like a person, like a friend, then they will have to deal with me standing up for myself." He said.

They smiled at him. The four entered the potion classroom. Harry felt better for a long time. He sat down next to Neville. They waited patiently.